BROADCASTING THE SALES.

Putaruru Press, Volume XI, Issue 511, 2 March 1933, Page 6

BROADCASTING THE SALES.

A HUMOROUS SUGGESTION. What Farmers Like to Hear. To cheer up wool growers a southern paper makes the following humorous comment on the broadcasting of wool sales:— During the recent test matches in Australia, New Zealand listeners have had full detailed reports on each match. While admitting that the Broadcasting Board have been going to great pains to advise farmers regarding the conducting of the wool sales, very little is said about them prior to the sale. To make interesting listening for wool-growers, we would suggest a report on the air on the following lines: —

“ Buyers are arriving every hour by train, by car, by aeroplane, on horseback. The streets are black with them, and it is estimated there will be a record attendance when the sale begins this afternoon. Farmers are also here in goodly numbers powerful looking giants, redolent of the open air and the soil. On every hand dissatisfaction is expressed as to the prices they are likely to receive for their wool. An extra I policeman has been drafted into the town in case the dissatisfaction should lead to riot. The hotel lists show that there are already eightysix visitors here, and of these about one-third have the appearance of buyers. The amount spent in hotel bills is £219 3s lid, which is 2s 9d more than at the same hour a year ago—a hopeful augury of returning prosperity. “ Great amusement was caused by a well-known pastoralist who remarked, with reference to current values, that he might as well play for nothing as work for nothing —a joke which will lose nothing by repetition. It is thought this may have a stimulating effect on the sale, as buyers now realise that they will not be allowed to have everything their own way.

“ A broker’s clerk had a fit while calculating 1 per cent, commission on five bales of locks at a penny per pound, and trying to subtract his railway fare from the result. The

Mayor remarked with apt eloquence | that the tragedy was directly attrij butable to bad trade, and was a [ timely warning to all of the need for a rise in commodity values. The remainder of his speech was inadvertently interrupted by the auctioneer knocking the table with his hammer and calling for attention. “ The scene in the sale room was memorable —the rows of tense faces, the trembling hands clutching their [ catalogues, the Mayor with his chain j of office and his mace bearer retirj ing with civic dignity. Then a voice shouted a bid. The sale had commenced. Lot after lot was knocked down, while a group of farmers barracked continually, each complaining that his particular wool, though better than his neighbour’s, had fetched less money. At times the situation appeared ugly, but the auctioneer displayed rare tact, and waved his hammer good-naturedly at the interrupters.”